Here is my recommended song for this post.

So for the past term we have been doing a science unit all about Chemical reactions. We did various experiments, textbook worksheets and a final project.

At the very beginning of the unit we did a bit of review on the chemistry we did last year which was pretty much the basics of the periodic table and Bohr diagrams.

After that we learned about chemical reactions and how to balance equations. We did many long days doing textbook assignments. Then we learned about acids and bases. This was a little more interesting as we did a few experiments to go with it.

Then we were taksed with doing a project. We could either make a chemical reaction experiment or do a video that describes the unit and what we learned.

I was partnered with Izzy and we decided to do a chemical reaction. Now I’m really interested in conservation and analyzing the natural world. So I had an idea of doing a project where we would go around the area, collect soil samples and test for containment’s that would harm plant growth and affect the areas environment. But it was hard to find an experiment online to test for lead content and such so we decided to go with testing for acidity.

We decided to use red cabbage juice as an indicator, acidic (red) and basic (blue), it smells horrible so we made sure it wasn’t open for very long. Espically when we were using it in first block. It’s not fun smelling that after you’ve only been up for an hour.

We came up up with an inquiry question which was “How can we test soils for acidic and alkaline solutions to analyze patterns in the soil around the Seymour area?” Then we came up with an hypothesis which was that the soil will be more acidic down by the water due to pollution and the soil in higher elevations would be basic.

We set set up a map with different collection points and spent about a week going around the area collecting soils. We got some weird looks when we sat there digging dirt in the middle of a park.

After gathering soil we set to work creating a poster board with photos of the collection sites to see if there are any visual signs on the flora to tell which are more basic or acidic. We couldn’t tell.

Then we presented to the class our experiment. We watered down the soil and poured some red cabbage juice into the sample jars. We then put the beakers into a container and let it sit for two days to get the best possible results.

It turned out that the soil closer to the water is actually more basic (OH-) and the soil higher up is more acidic (H+). We aren’t sure why that is but we have some theories that it could be because of the rock or the run off from the mountains, but we aren’t sure.

Overall it it was a fun project I enjoyed doing something I was interested in and I’m pretty happy with our end result and I want to research why the soil results happened. I’m excited for the next science project.